The Plague of Exclusion

By Michelle K. Wolf
Published on March 19, 2013

New play, “Therapy,” explores the the lives and fears of therapist

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on February 27, 2013

Cheryl Cohen Greene: Sex Surrogate

Published on February 19, 2013

Cheryl Cohen Greene has spent the last 40 years making her living having sex with people, but she’s not a prostitute.

RHONJ – Time To Go Manzo

By Ilana Angel
Published on August 27, 2012

Real Housewives of New Jersey Double Blog

By Ilana Angel
Published on August 20, 2012

Real Housewives of New Jersey Hit the Road

By Ilana Angel
Published on July 30, 2012

Real Housewives of New Jersey Men’s Night

By Ilana Angel
Published on July 23, 2012

RHoNJ – Gia Rocks & Melissa Sucks

By Ilana Angel
Published on July 15, 2012

Real Housewives of New Jersey – Oy Vey!

By Ilana Angel
Published on July 9, 2012

Real Housewives of New Jersey – Another Fake Doctor?

By Ilana Angel
Published on July 1, 2012

Feeling Confused

By Natalie Landver
Published on March 24, 2012

I’m Worried

By Monica Farassat
Published on January 31, 2012

All about Connection

By Monica Farassat
Published on December 22, 2011

Bethenny Frankel: Drowning in Lies While “Lost” at Sea

By Ilana Angel
Published on October 5, 2011

Bethenny Frankel, Reality Star, Has No Grasp on Reality

By Ilana Angel
Published on October 2, 2011

No more tears of a clown

By Ryan Torok
Published on March 15, 2011

A man walks into a shrink’s office and says he wants to commit suicide. “What you need is a good belly laugh,” the shrink says. “Go across the street to the circus. There’s a clown there who makes everybody laugh.” “Doc, I’ve been to the circus across the street,” the man says. “I’m the clown who makes everybody laugh.”

In Israel, cutting edge help for visually impaired kids

Published on October 29, 2008

Strolling among the young children playing on ELIYA's vibrant and colorful campus in Petah Tikva, just outside Tel Aviv, feels, for an instant, like a visit to any well-run preschool. But ELIYA is that and more -- a preschool for blind and visually impaired children designed to assist their growth and development through programs ranging from classroom teaching to hydrotherapy.

Cancer survivor brings art, courage to other patients

By Rachel Heller
Published on September 18, 2008

Having cancer has emboldened Kaufman in other ways, too -- after her first surgery in 1999, she traveled to Israel for the first time.

Life lessons from the trenches of cancer survival

By Roberto Loiederman
Published on September 4, 2008

The medical facility where I received treatment is one of the most prestigious in the world, but some staff members had a lousy bedside manner. One resident -- I thought of him as Dr. Worst-Case-Scenario -- would always give me his gloomiest predictions.

Cancer gives musician a new song

By Nancy Sokoler Steiner
Published on September 4, 2008

This time, Charlie Lustman hadn't come to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for medical tests or to endure another round of chemotherapy. Despite having lost three-quarters of his jawbone, Lustman had come to celebrate, to inspire -- and to sing.

Group Therapy

Published on May 12, 2008

Excerpt from an Israeli TV show "Ktzarim": some troubled people meet for group therapy. In Hebrew with English subtitles.

Bad therapy by troubled shrink is revealing TV

By Irine Schweitzer
Published on January 24, 2008

"In Treatment," a new HBO drama series, showcases therapist Paul Weston (played by Gabriel Byrne), treating a different client every day of the week and culminating in his seeking out supervision for himself with his ex-supervisor after an eight-year hiatus.

Film: Opposites attract—and seek therapy—in ‘Ira & Abby’

By Steven Rosen
Published on September 13, 2007

Jennifer Westfeldt is gracious, even humble, in accepting the compliment that starts this interview. She has been told that a recent essay on cineastes -- "Jewish Humor, After Woody" -- called her "the most intriguing candidate to forge a career of intelligent, dialogue-driven films about the comic possibilities of modern relationships." In other words, she may be the next Woody Allen.

TV: Tishby gives Israeli drama American ‘Treatment’

By Susan Karlin
Published on September 13, 2007

When Noa Tishby moved from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles, it was to make it as an actress. Two years later, she's now a history-making producer, spearheading the first original Israeli TV drama series to be picked up by an American network.

Dealing With Schmutz

By David Suissa
Published on August 16, 2007

This notion of blindness is a common theme in the life of Dennis Brown, a Chasidic Jew and professional counselor in his early 60s who runs the state-certified Ness Counseling Center in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood. Dennis deals with what he calls "the schmutz of life" on a daily basis -- physical and sexual abuse, drugs, marital and family problems, wife beating, pleated pants.

Men: the ill topic of choice

By Merissa Nathan Gerson
Published on June 28, 2007

Men are the scapegoat for lost and neurotic twentysomethings. Men and women and the dating scene really are the ill topic of choice for so many of my otherwise smart friends.

Film: Talmudic tradition translates into ‘Treatment’

By Susan Josephs
Published on June 14, 2007

In this life, Oren Rudavsky has forged a successful career as a New York City-based filmmaker known for award-winning documentaries about Jewish life, including the 2004 "Hiding and Seeking," which explored faith and tolerance through the lens of an Orthodox Jewish family's emotionally charged trip to Poland. In his latest film, "The Treatment," he takes on a subject that has long been a source of fascination.

L.A. Gafni Event Canceled

By Julie G Fax
Published on May 25, 2006

Gafni was appointed to the Wisdom Chair at Stephen S. Wise two years ago -- despite anecdotal allegations that he had a history of sexual misconduct. The temple's senior rabbi this week issued a short statement denouncing Gafni.

Rabbi’s Focus on Family a Little Fuzzy

By Irine Schweitzer
Published on April 13, 2006

Boteach enters the picture on a mission, although we are not sure from the outset what it is. He introduces himself as having counseled thousands of families and being the author of a best-selling book on family life.

Hineni

By Rabbi Anne Brener
Published on March 23, 2006

I expected to be dealing with an empty nest when my daughter started college. I projected my availability to friends who had yielded my attention during my childrearing years. I dragged writing projects onto my computer's desktop to await the plane ride from NYU to the rest of my life. Instead, the levees broke in my hometown. I spent the next three months as a relief worker with the Red Cross and the New Orleans Jewish agencies in service to those displaced and/or traumatized by Katrina.

Home Pampering Easy as 1, 2, Ahhhhh

By Beth Gilbert
Published on February 16, 2006

No one deserves a spa experience more than you do. Just picture it -- warm tubs scented with essential oils, invigorating body scrubs, refreshing botanical blend face masks smoothed on in soothing circular massaging motions and misty showers with luscious gels.

Botox Treatments Aid Stroke Survivors

By Steve Ditlea
Published on February 16, 2006

Better known for cosmetic enhancement, Botox injections immobilize key muscles in stricken arms or legs, allowing physical therapy and exercise to extend range of motion and flexibility. Effects wear off, so the Botox is reinjected every three months for a year or more.

Elliott Gould Thrives as Work in Progress

By Tom Tugend
Published on February 9, 2006

Elliott Goldstein grew up in a two-and-a-half room apartment in a section of Brooklyn populated by Jews, Syrians and Italians, the only child of a garment industry production manager and his wife. Both parents were born in the United States, but his grandparents emigrated from Russia, the Ukraine and Poland.

The Fastest Therapy in the West

By Teresa Strasser
Published on January 19, 2006

Welcome to The Ten Minute Method, a new form of condensed counseling offered by a Chatsworth therapist that promises to be both fast and affordable at $18 a session.

‘Thin’ Exposes Hefty Secrets and Lies

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on January 12, 2006

The filmmaker, who is also Jewish, relates to her subjects because she was once obsessed with the scale.

Agencies Join to Aid Special-Needs Kids

By Marc Ballon
Published on December 15, 2005

In November, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles brought together seven other agencies, including, the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Los Angeles, the Jewish Free Loan Association and Etta Israel Center, to create Hamercaz, a central resource for Jewish families raising special-needs children under 22.

Unmarried Counseling

By Teresa Strasser
Published on December 1, 2005

My neurosis is like a Ferrari. I can go from 0 to 60 in under four seconds.

Kabbalah and the Modern Shrink

By Gaby Friedman
Published on October 6, 2005

Since the early 1990s, Rabbi Abner Weiss, former rabbi at Beth Jacob Congregation and current rabbi at the Westwood Village Synagogue, has been using kabbalistic tools in his psychology practice. Recently, he published "Connecting to God, Ancient Kabbalah and Modern Psychology," a book that asserts the congruity of the two disciplines.

Holiday Frivolity for Young at Heart

By Jane Ulman
Published on March 24, 2005

At every age, we must be connected to life's fun side, and Purim, the boisterous and tumultuous holiday that begins this year at sundown on March 24 and celebrates the triumph of the Jews in ancient Persia over enemies determined to destroy them, gives us that opportunity.

Where Have All the ‘Safe’ Drugs Gone?

By Dr. Marc Siegel
Published on January 20, 2005

In the fall, my Vioxx patients fled to Celebrex. The other day they fled to Aleve. Now they don't know what to do.

Now that it was discovered that patients taking naproxen (Aleve) for three years had a 50 percent increased risk of heart disease, my patients want to know if any arthritis drug is safe.

I tell them that all these drugs are probably safe -- if taken for the right reasons and if judiciously prescribed.

Justice or Character Assassination?

By Andrea Adelson
Published on July 1, 2004

The painful case reveals the vulnerability of clergy to character assassination as well as the difficulty for lay people in challenging a religious entity that keeps its decisions secret.

Rabbis’ Tact Puts Sex Victims First

By Julie G Fax
Published on March 18, 2004

Several high-profile cases in recent years -- both locally and nationally -- have helped foster a newfound willingness among rabbis to work with mental health professionals not only to handle crises, but to take proactive measures as well.

Circle of Friends

By Debbie Sedley
Published on February 26, 2004

The Friendship Circle and its Friends at Home program pairs local teenagers with families of special-needs kids in order to provide a social outlet for disabled children and support for their often over-extended parents.

Painting Through the Pain

By Leora Alhadeff
Published on December 25, 2003

When the Nazis forced artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis into Terezin, she smuggled in art supplies and taught the concentration camp's children to express themselves through art.

Coming of Age on a Basketball Court

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on September 25, 2003

"I knew this could be a good story because so many different things had happened to people," said Dan Klores, sounding more like an introvert than a schmoozer. "You have a group of guys, and one is homeless, one wins a $45 million lottery, two lose their children and one lives without electricity or running water in Woodstock, N.Y."

Victor Haim Perera

By Alexandra J. Wall
Published on July 3, 2003

The author of "The Cross and the Pear Tree: A Sephardic Journey," a nonfiction work largely about that curse, died in Santa Cruz on June 14. He was 69.

Child Molester Sent to Treatment Center

By Julie G Fax
Published on February 6, 2003

David Schwartz, a counselor for preschool boys at an Orthodox music and arts camp, was sentenced to one year in residential
treatment and five years' probation for molesting a 4-year-old boy in his care at summer camp.

Between a Couch and a Hard Place

By Carmela Ciuraru
Published on May 9, 2002

In her latest book, "The Thief of Happiness: The Story of an Extraordinary Psychotherapy," Bonnie Friedman sorts through the complex, confusing, ambivalent relationship between therapist and patient by way of her own psychotherapy, revealing the seductive "thief" to be Friedman's trusted doctor, a fact that the reader realizes immediately, but that takes the author years to understand.

Job of Infinite Horror

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on April 19, 2001

At 78, Dario Gabbai, a Sephardic Jew and one of very few sonderkommandos still alive, says he continues to struggle with feelings of guilt and degradation.

Bum Knees

By J. D. Smith
Published on April 19, 2001

The reason I am limping is because of a small man named Shen Hsu. That's not entirely accurate. I went to see Hsu because I was limping. He performed a variety of ancient Chinese medical practices on me, including acupuncture and a form of massage that could easily be mistaken for torture. I'm still limping. Now I'm limping a little differently, on what used to be my good side.

Easing the Pain

By Beverly Gray
Published on October 2, 1997

Ethan Gura doesn't remember his sister. Still, he cannot forgether. He can't forget that Rebecca Alexandra Gura died in 1991 after afour and a half year battle with leukemia. She was then six yearsold. He was three.